With an increase in international travel in the 1950s, Honolulu became the point of entry to the United States from Asia and the South Pacific, accommodating the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Customs, Health, and Immigration and Naturalization.

Qantas Empire Airways landed a Boeing 707 aircraft at HNL enroute to Sydney, Australia, on July 31, 1959. It was the first jet flight into Honolulu. The flight from San Francisco took four hours and 50 minutes

United Airlines inaugurated the first DC-7 passenger service to Hawaii on January 1, 1955. The new service replaced United's Boeing Stratocruiser flights and reduced flight time between California and Hawaii by more than one hour.